Everything happens on one screen. There are no menus to hunt through. Once you can read the four regions of the panel (the tracks, the junction and main line, the working timetable, and the score line) you can work any board on the network.
The panel, top to bottom
Mission: survive the rush • clear 90% of services.
The tracks (1–9)
Each numbered track is a platform, drawn as a bar that fills as a train arrives and works down it. To the right of each track are four lamps that tell you its state at a glance:
| Lamp | Means |
|---|---|
| OCC | Occupied. A train is berthed here. |
| OUT | Cleared out. The train has been released. |
| LATE | The berthed train is running late. The clock is against you. |
| FLT | Fault or lockout. This track is locked. File a report to clear it. |
The signal shown against each track carries its aspect: red = stop, amber = approaching, green = clear to move.
The junction and the main line
These are the two shared blocks. Only one train may be in the junction, and only one on the main line, at any time. That single rule is the whole safety case of the railway. Route a second train into an occupied junction, or release onto a busy main line, and you foul the block.
The working timetable
Your list of jobs for the shift, in time order. Read each row left to right:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| TIME | The booked time of the move. |
| MOVE | ARR arrival · DEP departure · PASS pass-through. |
| TRK | Which track the move belongs to. |
| SERVICE | The service id (e.g. SVC 4850). |
| LOAD | Passengers aboard. Heavier trains are worth more, and cost more if you delay them. |
| STATUS | DUE, BOOKED, DELAYED, or a late count like +4 LATE. |
The score line
Along the bottom: services cleared, grace holds remaining, total late minutes, lockouts, and your on-time %. Keep the on-time high and the lockouts at zero and the grade takes care of itself.